A boat sits on the tracks to the Morgan Drawbridge, after the storm surge of superstorm Sandy. NJ Transit said the bridge didn't sustain major damage / Photo Courtesy of NJ Transit

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NEWARK — Service on the storm-battered North Jersey Coast Line could resume sometime next week between Long Branch and New York, depending on progress of repairs to a critical bridge across the Raritan Bay, NJ Transit’s executive director said.

Several key pieces of repair work need to be completed first — with repair of the Raritan Bay drawbridge the most critical, said James Weinstein, executive director.

“The critical path to restore service between Long Branch and New York is the river bridge — the challenge is the tidal surge shifted the bridge on its piers,” Weinstein said Monday. “Based on damage assessment by our people and experts, we should be in a good position to start talking about resumption of service by next week.”

The big “if” is repairing that bridge, which was under water and hit by two tugboats during superstorm Sandy.

Those tracks have to be realigned and salt water had to be pumped out of the motors and electrical systems that allow the bridge to open and close, he said.

Outside contractors and experts have been working with NJ Transit on the bridge, he said.

“We first thought the damage was far worse, but it is an old bridge,” Weinstein said. “If we can fix that bridge and make it safe by end of the weekend, we could see a limited restart of the Coast Line next week.”

The second piece of the puzzle is Amtrak restoring an electrical substation that was flooded in Kearney. That substation, Weinstein said, is needed to provide sufficient power to run more trains on the Northeast Corridor, which the Coast Line feeds into.

“It was pumped out by the Army Corps of Engineers, and Amtrak experts are assessing and working on restoring that,” Weinstein said. “It’s not clear when that power will be back. Until it is, that limits the number of trains we can run.”

There is some good news.

The Morgan Drawbridge, now famous for photographs of boats and shipping containers left on it by the storm, didn’t sustain structural damage, Weinstein said.

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There will be some limitation to Coast Line train travel. One storm-damaged, washed-out section of track, south of Raritan Bay, will be reduced to a single from two tracks, Weinstein said.

Some North Jersey Coast Line riders were frustrated because NJ Transit documented the damage to the line but didn’t provide updates on work to restore service.

Sunday evening, NJ Transit announced that limited service was resuming on the Morris & Essex line and some Bergen County lines.

Commuter Evan Cooper of Ocean Township, Monmouth County, said he understands the magnitude of the storm and the damage it caused. But he said commuters needed more information about the progress of restoration efforts.

“Since thousands of us rely on the Coast Line for transportation to our jobs, which basically translates to our family’s economic survival, the lack of information regarding its restoration is important,” said Cooper, who rides the train to New York. “I fail to understand why (NJ Transit) has not been forthcoming with information regarding their repair efforts to date and an estimated restoration date.”

Cooper added that he appreciates the work NJ Transit crews were doing.

The Coast Line sustained the most severe storm damage out of all NJ Transit’s rail lines, said John Durso, NJ Transit spokesman.

The bridge and track damage was compounded by local power outages, because NJ Transit relies on electricity supplied by local utilities to power signals, crossing gates and track switches on the railroad, Durso said.

Meanwhile, specialized NJ Transit crews have been at work “ ’round the clock,” Durso said. “They’re continuing work as we speak,” he said, noting that crews were at work on the Morgan and Raritan Bay drawbridges and also in the Bay Head yard Monday.